Voltas launches new campaign for air-conditioners

Voltas Limited has unveiled its new campaign, "Thande Dimag Se Soche," which will hit media on Saturday. Euro RSCG has created the campaign and the company has pumped in Rs 20 crore for this promotion. The campaign is aimed at boosting the sales of the just-launched 0.8-tonne split AC model priced at Rs 15,990.

On the sales target, K D Virmani, General Manager, said, "We are looking at reaching Rs 450 crore this financial year. Last year, we closed at Rs 325 crore." The company has a 32 per cent market share and its main competitors are LG and Bluestar.

The campaign revolves around the theme of 'value for money.' "We are talking of 'faida' (benefit) of buying Voltas ACs. Unlike last year, when the campaign's focus was on affordability, this time we have talked about more aspects like end-to-end service, low running costs, brand history and pricing," he said.

On the creative brief, he said, "The concept was to reach out to the common man and address that this air conditioner fits into his budget."

The campaign will appear on print, television, radio and outdoors. "Only 20 per cent of the budget has been spent on the television commercial. In fact we are concentrating more on outdoors," he said.

On future plans, Virmani said that the company has plans to set up a manufacturing facility in the excise-free zones of Uttaranchal or Himachal Pradesh. "The location is not certain but this is a greenfield project and should happen towards year-end," he said. Around Rs 70 to 80 crore is the investment that will go into this project, he said. At present, Voltas has a plant in Hyderabad set up with an investment of more than Rs 100 crore and another in Dadra, which is a joint venture with Fedders.

Virmani also said that Voltas was looking at more export markets to push up the bottomline. The new countries being looked at include Uganda, South Africa and Kenya. He said, "Exports contribute 8 per cent to the division's turnover but within the next three years the company is targeting 20 per cent of the total revenue from international operations."